Development of Digital Storytelling Media with Adaptive Visual and Linguistic Features to Improve Storytelling Skills in Deaf Children

This study aimed to develop Digital Storytelling Intervention Media with Adaptive Visual and Linguistic Features to support storytelling skills among deaf children receiving educational services at the UPTD Disability Services of Sidoarjo Regency. The study employed a Research and Development (R&D) approach using the ADDIE model, consisting of Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation stages. The study involved five elementary-school-aged deaf children selected through saturated sampling. Data were collected using expert validation questionnaires, teacher and participant response questionnaires, observations, interviews, and storytelling performance tests administered through pretest and posttest. The findings indicate that the developed media demonstrated high validity, with scores of 95.00% from media experts and 93.33% from subject-matter experts. In terms of practicality, teacher and participant responses reached 95.14% and 95.00%, respectively, both categorized as very practical. Regarding improvement in storytelling skills, the mean score increased from 50.00 in the pretest to 87.40 in the posttest, with an average N-Gain of 0.75, categorized as high. Given the very small sample and one-group pretest–posttest design without a control group, these findings should be interpreted as preliminary evidence of improvement following media use rather than broad evidence of effectiveness or a definitive causal effect. The results suggest that the developed media has potential to support storytelling interventions for deaf children in similar educational contexts.